UFC CEO Reveals Exactly How Much Revenue The Sport Generates And It's Impressive But Is It Fairly Distributed?

I love the game. I love the hustle. MP Staff Writer and Retired Rapper. Twitter: @_StephenAdamson

If you're concerned about the fighters in the UFC not getting compensated adequately, you're going to want to read what the UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta has had to say about his sport, its athletes, and the revenue share of the entire organization.

Since it's a private company, they don't have to share this information, but Fertitta has decided to do so regardless.

In a special report, he revealed,

"Because we are a private company we don't get into profitability but we'll generate about $600 million in revenue in the year 2015, which is a record for the company," Fertitta revealed. "It's fairly significant growth coming off of 2014. Unlike the other years which end on December 31 these last two cover the Last Twelve Months ending on September 30. This means there is a three month overlap between the 2012 and 2013's revenue total."

Conor McGregor has plenty of money

Fertitta reassured us all that the fighters - especially the top ones - are doing just fine financially.

"The fact of the matter is our top athletes are making multi-millions of dollars and what is happening as the sport grows and the compensation goes up along as revenue goes up, you're starting to see that the guys and girls at the top are commanding a larger share of that pie."

Clearly the more high-profile the fighter, the more money they are (deservedly) going to make.

"I think you see that in just about every sport, in every business. It's the athletes that make a difference that people want to pay for, they're commanding the big dollars."

So, as for the fights...

We'll keep needing to see high profile fights like McGregor-Aldo creating massive hype that gets fans to watch so we can usher more money into the pockets of the UFC executives as well as the fighters.

As this sport grows, it becomes more lucrative. We're seeing on the women's side as well that endorsement opportunities can arise, movie deals, etc. But as far as making money through the UFC as your main vehicle, it's possible to get very rich by fighting. The question is, how many of these lower level fighters are making an adequate living by putting their bodies on the line?

We don't have those numbers. So, while Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo are doing just fine monetarily, we may be a few years away from the whole league getting their fair pay.